THE CITIZEN: WEAVING THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN NARRATIVE–A 360 APPROACH

On April 29, 2009, Ihab Khatib wrote in The Citizen, the Harvard Kennedy School’s student newspaper, about his childhood as a Palestinian in Jerusalem and how that shaped his view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  He discovered that, “what is important for Palestinians isn’t to dwell on what has happened to us, but rather to figure out what to do with what has happened to us in order to build a better future for the Palestinian people.”  He reached out to Israeli students at Harvard to see how they could work together to reach common ground as students at the Kennedy School and improve the lives of all involved in the conflict.  During this trying time in relations between Israelis and Palestinians, students from both backgrounds at Harvard worked together to bridge divides through three initiatives:  a Standup Comedy for Peace Show that touched on stereotyping and misperceptions; a joint letter to President Barack Obama; and, a coordinated effort for a trip to Israel and Palestine.  The purpose behind such initiatives was “to mobilize the public to understand that this isn’t solely a Palestinian issue or an Israeli one, and to show people that they have the power to shape their own future if they join forces.”  Khatib ended by listing a set of recommendations for how we are to proceed in dealing with the conflict in the Middle East: 

the United States needs to shift its expertise from “managing the conflict” to actually working as an honest broker with the Israelis and Palestinians on resolving the conflict. The Palestinians also need to look within to reverse the damage caused by the split between the Hamas and Fatah parties, and work forcefully on decommissioning the armed groups that aren’t part of the security service. These groups need to understand that the use of force is harming the Palestinians’ national interest of having a sovereign Palestinian State – when they shoot, they are not shooting at Israelis; they are shooting the Palestinian people in the foot. In addition, Israel needs to stop shirking its responsibilities and engage with the Palestinians to reach a compromise. It needs to help Palestinian moderates regain credibility among the Palestinian people by gradually lifting all major checkpoints; start a gradual dismantlement of settlements in the West Bank; and, allow for the flow of people and trade from and into Gaza. 

Question to the Blogosphere:  How do you think Palestinians and Israelis should proceed in their negotiations?  What should the role of the U.S. be–is there another major power that should be involved as a third party in the negotiations?  For example, what could Turkey bring to the table as a mediator that the United States cannot?  Do you think that the initiatives undertaken by the Harvard Kennedy School Israeli and Palestinian students could be replicated outside the setting of an elite school that is separated physically from the conflict?  Do you think the elites of Israel and Palestine feel more compelled to reach a solution that the average people on each side of the conflict?  Is it more important to reach common ground among the elites or at the grass roots level?